CHAPTER XIII: THE HERMIT OF THE SCILLYS.
On a certain day in the late winter of the next year Olaf Triggvisonled his fleet across the turbulent waters of the Pentland Firth, andsteered his course for the islands of Orkney. On his way northwardalong the coasts of England he had many times made a landing to plundersome seaside village and to replenish his stores of food and water. Hehad harried wide on both shores of the Humber and in Northumberland,had stormed King Ida's fortress of Bamborough, and made a raid uponBerwick. In Scotland, also, he had ravaged and plundered. But of theseadventures there remains no record. Before the time of his crossing tothe Orkneys he had lost five of his ships and a large number of hismen, and from this it may be judged that he had either encountered verystormy weather or suffered some reverse at the hands of his enemies.
The snow still lay deep upon the islands when he entered the widechannel named Scapa Flow, and anchored his fleet under shelter of thehigh island of Hoy. Many of his vessels were by this time in need ofrepair, so he crossed the sound and beached them near to where the portof Stromness now lies, and at this place he took up his quarters untilthe coming of the summer.
The Orkney Islands were then, and for many generations afterwards,peopled by Scandinavian vikings and their families, who paid tax andtribute to Norway. Olaf therefore found himself among men who spoke hisown tongue, and who were glad enough to make friends with a chief, ofwhom it could be said that he had done great and valiant deeds inbattle. One thing which more than all else won these people to him wastheir knowledge that he was the same Ole the Esthonian who, with VagnAkison, had stood out to the end in the great sea fight against Hakonof Lade. Earl Hakon was now the ruler over the Orkney islanders, but hewas beginning to be so bitterly hated by them that they looked upon allhis enemies as their own particular friends. For a little time they hadcentred their hopes in Earl Sigvaldi of Jomsburg, who had lately takenrefuge in the Orkneys. But Sigvaldi had now gone back to his strongholdon the Baltic, in the hope of restoring his scattered company ofvikings. The coming of Olaf was therefore regarded with great favour bythe Orcadian vikings, who thought it possible that he would join themin an attempt to drive Earl Hakon from the Norwegian throne.
In order to delay Olaf's departure from the islands the people got himto help them in building a great temple on the shores of one of theirlakes, and, when the temple was finished and duly dedicated to Odin,they proposed to Olaf that he should lead an expedition across toNorway. Olaf replied that he did not consider the time ripe for such anattempt, and that for the present he had other plans in hand; but hebade them, in the meantime, busy themselves with the building of ships.
Now while Olaf was still in Orkney there came one day into Scapa Flowone of the ships of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark. Olaf learned fromher captain that the Dane folk had rebelled against Sweyn, for thereason that, having accepted Christianity and compelled his people tofollow his example, he had now thrown off the true belief and turnedback to the worship of the heathen gods, demanding that his subjectsshould again acknowledge Odin and Thor to be greater than the God ofthe Christians. Rather than do this, the Danes had resolved to drivetheir unbelieving king into exile; and Sweyn Forkbeard, having lost histhrone, had taken to vikingry.
On hearing this, Olaf Triggvison gave the ship captain a message totake back to his master, bidding Sweyn remember the vow he had sworn athis inheritance feast, and saying that if he had a mind to fulfil thatvow he might now make the attempt, for that he--Ole the Esthonian--wasnow preparing his forces for a great invasion of England, and would bewell pleased if Sweyn would join him in the expedition. The place ofthe gathering of the forces was to be Ipswich, in East Anglia, and thetime of meeting was to be the middle of the harvest month in the nextsummer.
Olaf did not wait in the Orkneys for an answer to this message. Hisvikings were already growing weary of idleness and eager to be againupon the sea. So the ships were put in readiness, and when a fair windoffered, the anchors were weighed and the sails set, and the fleet spedwestward through Roy Sound towards Cape Wrath. Thence they sailed downamong the Hebrides--or the Southern Isles, as the Norsemen alwayscalled them. Here Olaf had many battles and won many ships from thedescendants of Harald Fairhair's rebel subjects, who had madesettlements in the Isles. Here, too, he gained some hundreds of men tohis following. He harried also in the north parts of Ireland, and hadcertain battles in the Island of Man. By this time the summer was farspent, so he sailed east away to Cumberland and there rested throughoutthe winter.
His men thought that this part of England, with its mountains andlakes, was so much like their own birthland in distant Norway, thatthey showed great unwillingness to leave it. Many did, indeed, remain,and the settlements they made in the lake country have left traceswhich even to the present day may be recognized, not only in theremains of heathen temples and tombs, but also in the names of placesand in certain Norse words that occur in the common speech of theCumbrian folk.
From Cumberland Olaf sailed south to Wales. There again he harried wideabout, and also in Cornwall, and at length he came to the Scilly Isles.King Athelstane had conquered these islands half a century before, andhad established a monastery there, the ruins of which may still be seen.
Now when Olaf Triggvison lay at Scilly, sheltering from a storm thathad driven him out of his intended course, he heard that in the isle ofTresco there was a certain soothsayer who was said to be well skilledin the foretelling of things which had not yet come to pass. Olaf fella-longing to test the spaeing of this man.
"I will try him by means of a trick," Olaf said one day to Kolbiorn;"and in this wise: You shall go to him instead of me, and say that youare King Ole the Esthonion; and if he believes you, then is he nosoothsayer."
Now Olaf was already famed in all lands for being fairer and noblerthan all other men, and he chose Kolbiorn as his messenger because hewas the fairest and biggest of his men and most resembled himself, andhe sent him ashore, arrayed in the most beautiful clothing.
Kolbiorn searched long among the trees and rocks before he found thelittle cave in which the lonely hermit dwelt; and when he entered hesaw a gray bearded old man, deep in meditation before a crucifix, andwearing the habit of a Christian priest.
The hermit looked up at the tall figure of his visitor, and waited forhim to speak. Kolbiorn answered as Olaf had bidden him, saying that hisname was King Ole. But the hermit shook his head.
"King thou art not," said he gravely; "but my counsel to thee is, thatthou be true to thy King."
No other word did he speak, and Kolbiorn turned away and fared back toOlaf, who, on hearing of the answer that had been given, longed all themore to meet this hermit, whom he now believed to be verily asoothsayer.
So on the next day, while the wind was high and the waves broke with aheavy roar upon the rocks, Olaf dressed himself very simply, withoutany body armour, and went ashore, attended by two shieldmen. When heentered the hermit's cell he found the old man sitting at an oakentable with a roll of parchment before him, upon which he was inscribingsome holy legend. He greeted Olaf most kindly, and when they had spokentogether for a while, Olaf asked him what he could say as to how heshould speed coming by his rightful inheritance or any other goodfortune.
Then the hermit answered:
"In the time that is to come, thou shalt be a very glorious king and doglorious deeds. Many men shalt thou bring to the right troth and tochristening, helping thereby both thyself and thy fellow men."
"As to the first part of your prophecy--that I shall become a greatking, that I can well believe," returned Olaf; "but that I shall everhelp men to christening, I cannot believe, for I am now, and alwaysshall be, a faithful worshipper of the gods of Asgard and an enemy toall believers in Christ."
"Nevertheless," answered the hermit, "the second part of what I havesaid is even more certain to come true than the first; and, to the endthat my words may be trusted, take this as a token: Hard by thy shipthou shall presently fall into a snare of a host of m
en, and battlewill spring thence, and thou wilt be sorely hurt, and of this woundthou shalt look to die and be borne to ship on shield; yet thou shaltbe whole of thy hurt within seven nights and be speedily christenedthereafter."
Olaf laughed at the good man, and presently went his way. But as hepassed downward towards the boat that awaited him among the rocks, hewas met by a party of unpeaceful men who fell suddenly upon him withtheir swords. Olaf called upon his two guards, who had lagged behind,but ere they came to his help he, being without any arms, received agreat sword thrust in his chest. His assailants fled when they saw thetwo guards approaching from among the trees, and Olaf was left bleedingwhere he fell. His two men lifted him upon one of their shields, andcarried him down to the boat and bore him wounded upon his ship. Forsix days he lay unconscious, and, as all thought, upon the point ofdeath. But on the seventh night the danger was passed, and thereafterhe speedily grew well.
Then Olaf deemed that in having foretold this matter so exactly the oldhermit had proved himself to be indeed a very wise soothsayer. So hewent ashore a second time, and the two talked much and long together.
It seemed that Cerdic was the hermit's name. He had once been abondslave among Norsemen, and had known Olaf's father, King Triggvi,whom Olaf personally resembled. He could speak very well in the Norsetongue, and his soft and gentle voice was very soothing to all whoheard it. At first he spoke of the ways of heathen men, of theirrevengeful spirit and their cruelty in warfare, and he condemned theiroffering of blood sacrifices and their worship of graven images. Suchgods as Odin and Thor, Njord and Frey, were, he said, but the creationsof men's poetic fancy, and had no real existence. Odin was at one timebut an earthly man, with all man's faults and sins. The earthquake andthe thunder had nothing to do with the rolling of Thor's chariot or thethrowing of Thor's hammer. The waves of the ocean would rise in angeror fall into calm peace though the name of Njord had never been spoken;and the seasons would change in their order, fields and pastures wouldgrow, without the favour of Frey.
So spoke the hermit, and then he told the story of the Creation and ofAdam's Fall, and showed how Christ had come to preach peace on earthand to save the world. It was a principle of the Christian faith; saidCerdic, that men should remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, thatthey should not bow down to graven images, that they should not steal,nor be covetous, nor do murder, nor bear false witness; that theyshould love their enemies and bless those who cursed them.
Olaf listened in patience to all these things, asking many questionsconcerning them. At last Cerdic appealed to him and besought him mostearnestly to come to repentance and to make himself a faithful followerof Christ, so that he might at the close of his earthly life be worthyto enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Now Olaf Triggvison had until this time lived always in the firm hopethat when he died he would be admitted into the shining hall ofValhalla, where he might expect to meet all the great heroes of pasttimes. He believed that Odin would receive him there, and reward himwell for all the glorious deeds that he had done. So he was not at allwilling to abandon this Norseman's faith in a future life which, as menpromised, should be full of warfare by day and of merry carousing bynight.
Yet it was evident that Cerdic had not spoken without good effect; forOlaf agreed--as many of the Scandinavians did in these times--that hewould at once be christened, on the one condition that, while callinghimself a follower of Christ, he should not be expected to abandoneither his belief in Odin or his hopes of Valhalla. The holy man ofScilly well knew that this divided faith would not last long, but hewas also assured that in the contest the victory would certainly restwith Christ.
Accordingly Olaf was christened, with all his warriors and shipmen. Helay among the Scilly Isles for many days thereafter, and learned thetrue faith so well that it remained his guiding light throughout therest of his life, and made him, as shall presently be seen, one of themost zealous Christians of his time.
Now, as the summer days passed by and it drew near to the harvest time,Olaf bethought him of his tryst with King Sweyn Forkbeard, so he raisedhis anchors and sped out into the open main and round by the forelands,and so north to Ipswich. It was three years since he had first besiegedthe East Anglian town, and in the interval the folk had returned totheir devastated dwellings and built them anew. Olaf now took forciblepossession of the town for a second time. He was not yet so entirely aChristian that he had any scruples in attacking Christian folk andturning them out of their homes.
He lay with his ships in the Orwell for three weeks, and at the end ofthat time King Sweyn and his fleet arrived from the Baltic. Olaf hadalready gathered about him some fifty-five vessels of war, fully mannedand equipped; and with those which Sweyn added to the number, he hadnow a force of ninety-four ships of all sizes, from small skiffs of tenbanks of oars and a crew of a hundred men, up to great dragonships withthirty pairs of oars, two towering masts, and a complete company ofabout four hundred seamen and warriors. The whole force of ninety-fourships carried with them some thirty thousand men.
This was not to be one of the old plundering raids of a body ofadventurers seeking merely to better their fortunes by winningthemselves new homes at the point of the sword. It was an expeditiongreater than any that Brihtnoth had ever met with steel or Ethelredwith gold, and its purpose was one of deliberately planned invasion andconquest.
At first when Olaf and Sweyn met and joined their fleets and armiesthere was a disagreement between them as to which chief was to assumethe higher command. Sweyn declared that the leading position was his bythe right that he was a king, and should be accorded the more power inall things over Olaf, who (as Sweyn supposed) was lowly born. But Olafstoutly maintained that as it was he who had proposed the expedition,and as he had the larger number of men and ships, the sole commandshould be his own, Sweyn taking the second place. In the end it wasagreed that this should be so, and that, in the event of their success,they were to divide the kingdom of England between them--Sweyn takingthe Northern half, including Northumbria and the upper part of Mercia,and Olaf the Southern half, including East Anglia and the whole ofWessex.
The first point of attack was to be London--a city which, although notyet the capital of the kingdom, was a chief bulwark of the land anddaily becoming one of the most important centres of trade in WesternEurope. Alfred the Great, who had himself rescued the city from theDanes, had built a strong fortress for her defence, and her citizenshad always been regarded as among the most valiant and patriotic in allEngland. Olaf Triggvison was well aware that if he should succeed intaking London, his conquest of the rest of Ethelred's realm would be acomparatively easy matter. Unfortunately for his plans, he did notforesee the obstacles which were to meet him.
He led his procession of battleships up the Thames. Never before hadsuch a splendid array been seen upon those waters. The early morningsun shone upon the gilded birds and dragons on the tops of the masts.At the prow of each vessel there was reared the tall figure of somestrange and terrible animal, formed of carved and gilded wood or ofwrought brass, silver, or even amber. Many of the ships had sails madeof the finest silk, woven in beautiful designs. The decks were crowdedwith men whose glittering spears and burnished helmets gave them a verywarlike aspect, and struck terror into the hearts of the people who sawthem from the river's banks.
The alarm spread quickly from point to point, and before the invadershad come well within sight of the city the gates were securely closedand barricaded, and the valiant burghers were fully prepared to make astout resistance.
As the ships came abreast of the Tower they were assailed by volleys ofwell aimed arrows, fired from the battlements. Heedless of Olaf'splans, King Sweyn drew his division yet nearer under the walls, withthe intention of making an assault upon the citadel. But the attemptwas useless. The defenders were hidden behind the ramparts and beyondreach of all missiles, while Sweyn's forces were fully exposed to theceaseless hail of arrows and stones which seemed to issue out of thevery walls. So many of h
is men fell that Sweyn was forced to retire.
The garrison could frustrate an assault upon the fortress, but theycould not prevent so vast a number of ships from passing higher up theriver and making an attack upon the old Roman rampart. While King Sweyncrossed to the opposite side of the stream and led an attack uponSouthwark, Olaf effected a landing near Billing's Gate and directed allhis strength upon the wall. He lost many men in the attempt, but atlast a breach was made, and at the head of many hundreds of desperatewarriors he entered the city. He had depended upon Sweyn following him;and had the Danish king been content to obey, London might indeed havebeen taken by sheer strength. As it was, however, Olaf quickly foundthat he had made a fatal mistake. Vast crowds of armed citizens met himat the end of each narrow street and dealt the invaders such lustyblows, with their bills and swords and volleys of heavy stones, thatthose who were not maimed or killed outright were forced back byoverpowering strength, their ranks being driven into hopelessconfusion. At one moment Olaf Triggvison found himself, with some sixor seven of his men, surrounded by several scores of the defenders. Hefought his way through them back to the city wall, where, through thebreach that had been made, his hosts were escaping on board the ships.The besiegers were utterly defeated. Once again had the men of Londonrescued their city from its foes.
Sweyn Forkbeard had fared no better than Olaf had done. He had made abold attempt to burn the town, but, like Olaf, he had been driven backto his ships with great slaughter.
On that same day the two defeated chiefs sailed away in wrath andsorrow, and with the loss of seven ships and two thousand men.
Now, under Alfred or Athelstane such a reverse as the invaders had metwith before London would surely have been followed up by some crushingvictory. But under the wretched Ethelred there was no attempt made toprevent the more fearful desolation of other parts of the kingdom. Olafand Sweyn were calmly allowed to avenge their defeat by ravaging thecoast at pleasure, and to pillage, burn and murder without meeting theslightest resistance. At the mouth of the Thames the two chiefs haddivided their forces, Sweyn sailing northward towards the Humber, whileOlaf took his course southward, and ravaged far and wide in the oldkingdoms of Kent and Sussex.
Late in the summer, Olaf crossed into Hampshire, and now at last KingEthelred was roused, for the invaders threatened not only the royalcity of Andover but also the royal person. The king had no army ofsufficient strength to encounter his Norse enemy, and his navy was ofstill less consequence. The only course he seems to have thought of,therefore, was the old cowardly policy of again buying peace with gold.Olaf was allowed to anchor his fleet for the winter at Southampton, andin order to avert any raiding into the surrounding country, Ethelredlevied a special tax upon the people of Wessex to supply the crews withfood and pay. He also levied a general tax upon all England to raisethe sum of sixteen thousand pounds as a bribe to the invaders to quitthe kingdom.
This large sum of money was conveyed to Olaf Triggvison by the king'sambassadors, among whom was a certain Bishop Elfheah--a zealousChristian, who, in addition to gaining Olaf's solemn promise that hewould keep the peace, took upon himself the task of converting theyoung chief to the Christian faith. Olaf had already been baptized bythe good hermit of the Scillys; but he had not yet received the rite ofconfirmation. He now declared that he was willing to become entirely aChristian, and to set aside his belief in the old gods of Scandinavia.The bishop then led Olaf to the court at Andover, where Ethelredreceived him with every honour and enriched him with royal gifts. Atthe confirmation of Olaf, which took place with great pomp, KingEthelred himself was present, and even stood sponsor.
Olaf lived for many weeks at Andover, as King Ethelred's friendlyguest, and before he left to join his ships he signed a treaty in whichhe engaged never again to invade England. This promise he faithfullykept, and for a time there was peace in the land. Ethelred believedthat he had now rid his kingdom of all danger from the vikings. But hedid not reckon with King Sweyn Forkbeard. Tempted by the great sums ofmoney that had been extorted from the English, Sweyn returned again andagain, and at last succeeded in expelling Ethelred from the land. Formany years Sweyn was the virtual ruler of England, and he thus preparedthe way for his son, Canute the Mighty, who was afterwards the chosenking of the English people.
Now, while Olaf Triggvison was still the guest of King Ethelred, therealso lived at the court a certain princess named Gyda. She was thesister of the King of Dublin, in Ireland, and she was considered verybeautiful. A great many wooers sought to wed with her, and among othersa man named Alfwin, a renowned champion and man slayer. A day was fixedon which Gyda had promised to choose a husband, and many high born menhad come together, hoping to be chosen. All were splendidly attired.
Olaf Triggvison, clad in a coarse, wet weather cloak with a fur hood,stood apart with a few of his comrades, merely to look on.
Gyda went here and there among her wooers, but seemed to find none thatpleased her. But at length she came to where Olaf stood, with his headhalf hidden under his fur hood. She went nearer to him, lifted up hishood and looked long and earnestly into his eyes.
"A taller and handsomer man I have never seen," said she. "Who artthou, and whence came you?"
"I am an outland man here," he answered; "and I am named Ole theEsthonian."
Gyda said, "Wilt thou have me? Then will I choose thee for my husband."
Olaf replied that he was not unwilling to take her at her word. So theytalked the matter over and, being of one mind, they were forthwithbetrothed.
Alfwin was ill content at this, and in great wrath he challenged Olafto fight. It was the custom of those days in England that if any twomen contended about a matter they should each bring twelve men anddispute their rights in a pitched battle. So when these two rivals met,Olaf gave the word to his men to do as he did. He had a great axe, andwhen Alfwin attacked him with his sword, he quickly overpowered him,and then bound him fast with ropes. In like wise were all Alfwin's mendefeated; and Olaf forced them to depart from the land and never comeback. Alfwin was a very wealthy man, and his wealth was forfeited toOlaf. Then Olaf wedded Princess Gyda, and went with her to Ireland, andlived in great happiness for many days.
Olaf the Glorious: A Story of the Viking Age Page 13
